WIN names Coach of the Year, Impact, Schalles/Junior Schalles, Journalist & Recruiting honors

Scott Goodale, the head coach at Rutgers University, who saw two Scarlet Knights capture the school’s first individual championshipd and lead the New Jersey school to its first Top-10 NCAA team finish in 2019, headlines five individuals who earned WIN Magazine’s Special Awards.

Meanwhile, Ohio State takes WIN’s prestigious spring honor as the top recruiting class for 2019 in WIN’s annual spring recruiting rankings.

Scott Goodale (right) celebrated Anthony Ashnault winning one of Rutgers first two NCAA championships.

Goodale, who has been Rutgers head coach since 2007, was named the Dan Gable Coach of the Year as the New Jersey native helped Nick Suriano and Anthony Ashnault win the NCAA titles at 133 and 141 pounds, respectively. The Scarlet Knights also finished with a school-record ninth place in Pittsburgh in March. Gable is the legendary Iowa coach who led the Hawkeyes to 15 national team titles over 20 years (1978-97).

Fresno State coach Troy Steiner

Goodale and Fresno State’s Troy Steiner were also named the co-winners of the Mike Chapman Impact Award as both Rutgers and Fresno State ranked in the Top 10 in dual meet attendance. Steiner also is in just his second year after helping restart the Bulldog program that was temporarily dropped in 2006 and brought back in 2017. Chapman is the founder of WIN Magazine, the Dan Hodge Trophy and the Dan Gable Hall of Fame Museum in Waterloo, Iowa.

Bo Nickel pinned 18 of 30 foes this past year to win the Schalles Award a second straight year

Meanwhile, Penn State’s Bo Nickal and Minnesota prep Greg Kerkvliet were named winners of the Schalles and Junior Schalles Awards that are presented annually to the nation’s top college and high school pinners. Nickal, the three-time NCAA champion and 2019 Dan Hodge Trophy winner had 18 falls in an undefeated 30-0 senior championship campaign at 197 pounds.

Greg Kerkvliet, who pinned 21 of 24 foes this winter, will wrestle in college at Ohio State.

Kerkvliet, meanwhile, flattened 21 of 22 opponents (excluding forfeits) at heavyweight for Simley High School in Minnesota after an off-season injury delayed the start of his senior season until January. Schalles was the former two-time NCAA champ from Clarion (Pa.) University, who pinned 109 of 153 career victims.

Finally, Justin Hoch, a freelance photographer from New York City, was named WIN Magazine’s Journalist of the Year for the many national and international events that he covers annually. The former wrestler from Binghamton also created “The Fire Inside” project by capturing intense up-close images of over 1,800 people associated with wrestling.

Justin Hoch took up photography when he started working with Beat the Streets in New York City

Coach Tom Ryan’s Ohio State Buckeyes finished ahead of Arizona State, Cornell, North Carolina State and Rutgers in the Top 5 of WIN’s best recruiting classes for 2019. Ohio State is the only team with multiple No. 1-ranked wrestlers as part of this year’s class, one staying in-state in Carson Kharchla (174-184) and the other being the Minnesota prep and Jr. Schalles winner Kerkvliet.

To see WIN’s Top-25 Recruiting Team Rankings broken down by the signees credentials and national rankings, as well as the feature stories about these other special award winners, subscribe and get WIN’s May issue. The recently-released publication also covers World Team Trials in North Carolina and a preview of Final X. Subscribe to WIN Magazine by calling 888-305-0606 or go to WIN-Magazine.com and use Promo Code “May” to start your subscription with the most recent issue.